My life as a filmmaker / Yamamoto Satsuo ; translated, annotated and with an introduction by Chia-ning Chang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yamamoto, Satsuo, 1910-1983

Contributor:

Chang, Chia-ning.

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Series:

Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies

Michigan monograph series in japanese studies ; number 80

Standardized Title:

Watakushi no eiga jinsei. English

Language:

English

Japanese

Subjects (All):

Yamamoto, Satsuo, 1910-1983.

Yamamoto, Satsuo.

Motion picture producers and directors--Japan--Biography.

Motion picture producers and directors.

Japan.

Genre:

Biographies.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor [Michigan] : University of Michigan Press, [2017]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

In his posthumous autobiography, Watakushi no eiga jinsei (1984), Yamamoto reflects on his career and legacy: beginning in the prewar days as an assistant director in a well-established film company under the master Naruse Mikio, to his wide-ranging experiences as a filmmaker, including his participation in the tumultuous Toho Labor Upheaval soon after Japan's defeat in World War II and his struggles as an independent filmmaker in the 1950s and 1960s before returning to work within the mainstream industry. In the process, he established himself as one of the most prominent and socially engaged film artists in postwar Japan. Imbued with vibrant social realism and astute political commentary, his filmic genres ranged widely from melodramas, period films from the Tokugawa era, samurai action jidaigeki, social satires, and antiwar films. Providing serious insights into and trenchant critique of the moral corruption in Japanese politics, academe, industry, and society, Yamamoto at the same time produced highly successful films that offered drama and entertainment for Japanese and international moviegoers. His considerable artistic distinction, strong social and political consciousness, and filmic versatility have earned him a unique and distinguished position among Japan's world-class film directors. In addition to detailed annotations of the autobiography, translator Chia-ning Chang offers a comprehensive introduction to the career and the significance of Yamamoto and his works in the context of Japanese film history. It contextualizes Yamamoto's life and works in the historical and cultural zeitgeist of prewar, wartime, and postwar Japan before scrutinizing the unique qualities of his narrative voice and social conscience as a film artist.

Contents:

Translator's preface

Chronology

Filmography, awards, and recognitions

Introduction : Yamamoto Satsuo and modern Japanese cinema

My life as a filmmaker (Watakushi no eiga jinsei)

Preface

My boyhood

My student years

My years as an assistant director

Before conscription

Private Second Class Yamamoto

The T oh o labor strikes

Independent filmmaking and its struggles

Work within the mainstream industry

In place of an afterword.

Notes:

Issued as part of book collections on Project MUSE.

Includes bibliographical references, filmography (pages xv-xix) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472122493

0472122495

9780472073337

0472073338

Publisher Number:

10.3998/mpub.9306347

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.